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[Music]
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up next
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two brutal murders put a city on edge
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we're all bothered by it
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it's it's hard to sleep at night was
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this the work of a serial killer
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there were multiple similarities between
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the two scenes police have few clues
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these crime scenes primarily were all
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debris
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basically but plenty of motive he has
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obviously a hatred towards women the
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case went cold until
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a lover's quarrel flew out of control
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[Music]
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in the early 1990s seattle washington
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was one of the fastest
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growing cities in the country renee
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powell
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a 43 year old registered nurse visited
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seattle on vacation
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and never left she blew him just like a
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flower she bloomed
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you cannot believe how she looked and
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how she talked and she giggled and she
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left
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but two years after renee moved to
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seattle
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tragedy struck on a cold february night
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a fire broke out in her apartment when
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firefighters extinguished the blaze
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they found renee's body the victim was
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face down
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arms to the side legs apart
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an ice pick was found between her legs
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most of her clothes had been torn off
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there were only remnants of a shirt that
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she had been wearing
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[Music]
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renee had been gagged and bound and
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appeared to have been
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strangled to death before the fire
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the origin of the fire showed a possible
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motive
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it appears that the fire had been lit
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between renee
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powell's legs although there were no
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signs of forced entry renee's purse and
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credit cards were missing
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and all her electronic equipment was
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missing like her tv
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and vcr she had recently been doing
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laundry because there was laundry
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stacked on
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a sofa you could tell she had recently
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put together or
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made a pitcher of iced tea because there
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was a pitcher full of iced tea on the
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counter
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and you could see where the ice cubes
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had melted from the heat of the fire
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i picked up the phone and my sister was
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voice was very unusual
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she said she's gone she's dead i said
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who's
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dead and she said renee i said renee who
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she said renee's i said she can't be
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dead i just talked to her
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at the autopsy the medical examiner
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found evidence that renee had been
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sexually assaulted
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[Music]
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we just couldn't come up with that
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person that would be
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wanting renee dead never was able to
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find any
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person no family no relatives no past
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lovers no
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no one at work then a month after
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renee's murder there was another fire
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in the same apartment complex
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suspecting arson police used a
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helicopter with heat sensors to see
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if anyone was hiding nearby watching the
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fire
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it doesn't see objects per se it sees
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heat signatures or heat given out by
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a person there were no suspects hiding
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in any of the bushes
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when the fire was extinguished they
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found
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another female victim 54 year old
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barbara walsh the similarities between
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the two homicide scenes and the two
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women were extensive both barbara walsh
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and renee powell were single
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lived alone and worked in the healthcare
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field
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both apartments were on the first floor
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there was evidence that both women had
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been doing their laundry at the time
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their attacker entered their apartment
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both women had been
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bound using undergarments their own
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undergarments the bindings also
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included electrical cords had been cut
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off from lamps within
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the apartment the killer was organized
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and his crimes well planned
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in both units he took down the smoke
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detector before setting the fire
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and even took down the doorbell ringers
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he went out of his way to make sure that
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the fire wouldn't be discovered
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prematurely
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both victims had been stabbed strangled
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and burglarized
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both were doing laundry in the basement
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before they were attacked
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we theorized that she had left the
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sliding glass door unlocked when she
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went down to the laundry room to start a
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load of laundry
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and when she returned the suspect had
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been
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in the apartment the similarities were
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too blatant to be ignored
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and the conclusion too horrific
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to avoid the two most
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gruesome murders that i've been involved
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in
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my reaction to seeing the violence and
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overkill was
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this individual will kill again
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based on the evidence seattle police
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suspected the same man raped and
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murdered
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two women in the same apartment complex
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residents were demanding round-the-clock
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protection
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and that is the saddest thing that has
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ever happened to me
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that i can't even feel safe in my home
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we're all bothered by it
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it's it's hard to sleep at night and
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i mean i'm a positive person and i hate
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to like
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now look at everybody i see walking down
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the street as some suspicious arsonist
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the victims renee powell and barbara
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walsh
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had no known enemies she had this laugh
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that
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if anybody knew her they'd never forgot
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her laugh a very generous person
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you know she didn't have a lot but she
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was willing to help anybody
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the nature of the murders had police
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checking every
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registered sex offender within a 50-mile
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radius
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we talked to people for weeks trying to
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find
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something that would lead us towards a
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killer and
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and came up empty but what stood out
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most to police was the remarkable
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similarity of the two cases
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both victims were bound and sexually
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assaulted although
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dna evidence was recovered from only one
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of them
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both lived on the first floor and were
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doing laundry before they were attacked
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both had electronic items stolen from
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their apartments
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and there were other similarities that
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detectives identified
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as the killer's signature the signature
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consists of five parts which would
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involve
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binding the victim stabbing the victim
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disposing of their body
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setting fires or arson and then taking
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souvenirs
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since much of the evidence was destroyed
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in the fire
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police turned to the public for help and
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within days
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they got more than 600 tips
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one in particular logged as number
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316 caught their attention we had an
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individual that lived nearby
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a short distance about three miles away
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that
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was brought to us from a domestic
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violence advocate at the
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the nearby court 23 year old
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gary dolan had a history of minor
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offenses but he'd never serve jail time
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it was his own sister who reported him
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to police
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she was alarmed by hundreds of
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incredibly lurid
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poems he'd written and shown her
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most of his writings were angry writings
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the one in particular dealt with
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with forcing a kind lady
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to have sex with him after he'd
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strangled her
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grabbing her head and snapping her neck
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the poor little old lady hit the deck
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now she's dead there's no life in her
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later tonight i'll eat her for dinner
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some poems talked about sexual activity
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with older women sexual activity with
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with dead people
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i'm happy with my life sharpening the
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blade of my unholy knife
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this is where true hatred lies screams
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of agony my victim dies
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police certainly knew that they were
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working with someone who
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was very sick
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gary dolan was unemployed and had no
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alibi for either murder
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he also refused to take a polygraph test
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and he wouldn't provide a dna sample so
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police
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had to find another way to get it
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we knew he smoked we knew we could get
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dna from the cigarette butt
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but we couldn't take the cigarette butt
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from him unless he abandoned it
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sheriffs followed gary until they saw
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him outside smoking
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a cigarette they questioned him at
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length
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hoping he'd cast the butt aside when he
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was finished
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which to their relief he finally did
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that butt was sent for testing and the
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results provided yet
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another setback the dna profile from the
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cigarette butt
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did not match the dna profile from the
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crime scene
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so gary dolan was eliminated as a
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suspect
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and for the next two years the trail of
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the killer
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turned cold two years we've beat our
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head against the wall trying to find the
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killer
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[Music]
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investigators often request a
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psychological profile of a serial killer
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in the belief this insight will help in
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efforts to apprehend him
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in these two murders the victims were
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bound
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sexually assaulted their bodies placed
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in a position
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that would shock investigators and then
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both scenes were set on fire
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these elements were unusual these women
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were substitutes they became targets and
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victims
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because he's taken his revenge feelings
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his hatred
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of some female in his life and acting
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out against them
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so he's replaced the person that's been
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in his life with these victims
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for two years investigators searched for
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the killer with no
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success then
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investigators got a new lead from an
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unusual source
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a woman incarcerated in the local prison
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i mean this tip is just too much to not
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not handle right away
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and we go up and we talk to her her name
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was princess gray she was in jail
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awaiting
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trial for assaulting her boyfriend
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robert parker when he had the audacity
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to leave her for another woman
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she had assaulted the new girlfriend and
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then later when they were in court on
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that
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she had also assaulted robert in the
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courtroom
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and so she was now in jail
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on those assaults princess gray said her
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ex-boyfriend robert parker was the man
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who murdered
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renee powell and barbara walsh
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it was the kind of tale police had heard
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hundreds of times before
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princess gray did have reason to lie she
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was the jolted woman
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but gray said she and robert lived just
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a hundred and fifty yards away
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from the apartment complex where renee
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powell and barbara walsh were murdered
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he started bringing stuff in the house
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and i was like what are you doing
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where'd you get this stuff i was just
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like just
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move just be quiet be quiet and quiet so
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he brought the stuff
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in then he put pepper
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all over the floor inside routes and
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inside and outside the pepper
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would throw off the scent of any police
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sniffer dogs in the area
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she said she still had the items parker
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took from the crime scenes
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and where's that now i have it okay
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at your apartment yeah in the couple's
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apartment
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investigators found the items stolen
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from renee powell and barbara walsh's
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apartments
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tvs vcrs coats and other items
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identified
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by the victim's relatives when
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questioned by police
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23 year old robert parker denied any
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involvement in the murders
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there were no fingerprints there were no
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eyewitnesses
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he never admitted to being in those
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apartments
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but a background check revealed passed
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brushes with the law
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at the time of the murders robert was
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making his
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money by selling drugs on the street and
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it pawning property and selling property
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most likely stolen property that he got
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in drug trade and stuff
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but then princess gray recanted her
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story
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apparently she and robert parker had
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reconciled their differences
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princess gray now claimed
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they found these items in the trash
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she claims that he was in the apartment
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all night
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that she had gone out and found the
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property
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by some garbage cans or a dumpster
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without princess gray investigators had
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no evidence it wasn't unexpected
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since her and parker shared a child but
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damn it when you have someone who
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is providing you good evidence that
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directly
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connects the killer with the crime
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scenes
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it's a hard nut to swallow you started
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bringing stuff in the house
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princess gray implicated her boyfriend
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robert parker in the murders of renee
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powell and barbara walsh but
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later recanted after the two had
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reconciled
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which version was correct
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she had facts that no one but the
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investigators
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the victim and the suspect or someone
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close to the suspect would know
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but investigators didn't give up
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princess gray
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had given them hours of information all
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on tape
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countless details of her life with
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boyfriend robert parker
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some of it telling was your sex life
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pretty normal then
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yeah except for one time or of having
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sex
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and he started to act like he had
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split personality and
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she started like choking me and calling
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me and and stuff
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and gray said something else about
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parker's
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personal hygiene she had mentioned that
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after she and parker had made love he
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frequently would go into their bathroom
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clean up using their towels and then
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just leave the towels laying
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about the vanity we had found two towels
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in barbara walsh's bathroom that were
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laying on top of her vanity
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although the towels had been in the fire
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investigators wondered if parker might
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have used them
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after the sexual assault of barbara
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walsh
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to find out investigators took a close
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look at those towels the towel was kind
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of folded or wadded up
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and as we opened up and started to
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examine it we found four
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four hairs that were if they weren't
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heat damaged they were you know they
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were certainly
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visually different from from barbara
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walsh's hairs
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and one of those hairs had the potential
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to be
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a gold mine of evidence the first hair
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that i glommed on to was
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probably the largest here and it had a
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root and it had a root with some
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some tissue onto it dumb luck
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kept that towel from burning up and
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burning the pubic hair with it
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investigators now had dna evidence from
00:16:20
both
00:16:20
crime scenes biological evidence from
00:16:23
renee powell's rape test kit
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and the hair from barbara walsh's
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apartment
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scientists compared robert parker's dna
00:16:32
to those
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dna samples robert parker's
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dna profile was compared to the profile
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previously generated from the vaginal
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swabs
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it was a match robert parker had denied
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ever being in the victims apartments and
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now
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the evidence directly contradicted him
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we felt damn good it was just
00:16:57
indescribable relief
00:16:59
to get dna which is pristine
00:17:02
unattackable scientific evidence went up
00:17:05
to that point you only had the
00:17:07
circumstance
00:17:08
and the testimony of someone like
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princess gray
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two years after the crimes
00:17:14
twenty-three-year-old robert parker was
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arrested and charged
00:17:18
with two counts of murder prosecutors
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believe
00:17:23
parker spent weeks watching his victims
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with renee powell he waited in the woods
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next to her apartment when she went to
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the laundry room in the basement
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she left her door open
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he went inside grabbed a knife from the
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kitchen
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and hid when renee returned
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he attacked binding her
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arms with lamp cords from inside the
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apartment
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then sexually assaulting and stabbing
00:18:03
her to death
00:18:04
he grabbed some items of value a vcr a
00:18:08
coat
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dismantled the smoke detector
00:18:12
then set the fires to destroy evidence
00:18:24
the case of barbara walsh was virtually
00:18:27
identical
00:18:29
she too was doing her laundry and had
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left the door open while she went
00:18:34
downstairs
00:18:35
[Music]
00:18:40
like the first crime parker used
00:18:43
materials he found
00:18:44
inside the apartment
00:18:46
[Music]
00:18:53
[Applause]
00:18:55
after the sexual assault and murder he
00:18:58
used the towels in the bathroom to clean
00:19:00
up
00:19:01
before setting the fire
00:19:10
in the folded towels one hair
00:19:14
with the root intact survived the
00:19:17
intense heat
00:19:18
smoke and flames a tiny hair
00:19:22
found with the help of an angry
00:19:25
girlfriend
00:19:26
intent on getting revenge the towel
00:19:29
itself was was singed
00:19:30
and burned a little bit but it wasn't
00:19:32
like it was burned up completely
00:19:34
and so the hairs that were inside this
00:19:36
towel were never exposed to the high
00:19:38
high heat
00:19:39
investigators think the motive for
00:19:41
parker's crimes was
00:19:43
in part his anger and resentment towards
00:19:46
his girlfriend
00:19:48
princess gray i believe that robert
00:19:51
had been home with princess and that
00:19:52
there had been some kind of an argument
00:19:54
where he left princess
00:19:56
and and left angrily i assume it's
00:19:59
because
00:20:00
he had a lot of pent up anger to
00:20:02
princess who was
00:20:04
dominant extremely difficult person to
00:20:06
deal with
00:20:07
and i suspected that contributed to the
00:20:11
release of this sexual deviancy
00:20:13
that we see in the murders after a
00:20:16
four-month trial
00:20:18
robert parker was convicted of two
00:20:21
counts of aggravated murder
00:20:23
and sentenced to life in prison
00:20:26
his crimes were planned all the way down
00:20:30
to his attempts to destroy the evidence
00:20:33
but science
00:20:34
uncovered evidence he didn't even know
00:20:38
existed it remains incredibly unsettling
00:20:43
that there could be other parkers just
00:20:45
walking the streets
00:20:46
among us and there's nothing to tip you
00:20:50
off
00:20:50
there a lot of cases would go unsolved
00:20:52
if they there was no forensic
00:20:54
science around you just never know
00:20:57
because it can be microscopic or it can
00:20:59
be something as big as a footballer
00:21:01
or something like that it's it's that's
00:21:03
the that's the beauty of forensic
00:21:04
sciences you just don't
00:21:06
know what's going to be the most
00:21:07
important part of your analysis
